Writing instruments such as graphite or lead pencils are well known and are used for drawing and writing. Lead pencils may have a graphite center for drawing in gray or black on a paper or page. Alternatively, lead pencils may have a colored center for drawing in colors, such as red green or blue, on a paper or other objects. Known lead pencils have an elongated body with a cylindrical or polygonal cross-section which surrounds the graphite or lead center and may further be made out of wood or other suitable material.
A sharp end of known lead pencils includes a tip or point of the graphite or colored center that extends from a conical portion of the body surrounding the graphite or colored lead center. When the tip or point of the lead or colored center breaks or wears out, a user needs to sharpen the lead pencil to remove additional body material, such as wood, surrounding the graphite or colored center, such that a new tip or point of graphite or color appears for writing or drawing. As the tip or point of graphite or color is dragged across an object such as paper, graphite or color material can be left behind on the object, thereby leaving a mark. In some cases, particularly when drawing, it is desirable to remove the graphite or color marks using an eraser.
To address the need to remove the graphite or color marks, some lead pencils include a rubber eraser or the like affixed to a butt end of the pencil, opposite the sharp end thereof. The rubber eraser is rubbed over a mark on the paper or object to thereby remove the mark. As the eraser is rubbed over surfaces of papers or objects, some rubber is worn off, thereby reducing the usable amount of the eraser.
Typically, the size of the rubber eraser that is fixed to the end of the pencil is relatively small in comparison to the length and typical life of the available lead pencil. In some instances, there is a relatively high frequency of use of the rubber eraser on the end of the pencil to erase marks. These two factors, when combined, may result in the eraser being quickly worn out and down to an unusable amount. In such instances, a user is often left with a long pencil with no usable eraser affixed to the end thereof. In other instances, a user may abuse the eraser affixed to the end of the pencil by biting or chewing it to a minimal length, thereby rendering the eraser unusable.
With no usable eraser affixed to the end, a user may choose to avoid using the pencil altogether. Older pencils without usable erasers may be simply thrown away and replaced with new pencils having usable erasers. The net result of this is a relative short life span of known pencils.
Another problem facing known graphite or color pencils is their tendency to roll down an inclined surface. School desks, for example, may be designed with an inclined surface and pencils are placed on top of such surfaces. Likewise, notebook or three-ring binders typically used by school children are designed so that when closed and placed on a flat surface, the surface facing the user is similarly inclined. Pencil users are known to place their pencils on top of these binders. In these two types of instances, known pencils roll down the inclined surface and often fall to the ground, presenting an inconvenience for the user, who is forced to bend over to pick the pencil up. Moreover, the constant disturbance of pencils rolling off of desks and onto the floor may be a distraction for students and teachers alike. Having a pencil on the ground may, in some instances, present a safety hazard, as a person may conceivably step on the pencil, causing him/her to lose his/her balance and fall. Yet another result is that a pencil on the ground may be inadvertently pushed under furniture or away from the user's work station or desk, forcing the user to replace the pencil altogether.
Therefore, a pencil that does not roll down inclined surfaces typically found in a pencil user's environment would be highly desirable. Moreover, a pencil that can be readily sharpened with existing sharpeners but which includes an eraser having a life commensurate with the life of the pencil's lead is similarly desirable. Finally, a pencil that minimizes the incidence of a user's destructive chewing of the eraser is desirable as well.